Lucien's POV
The guards bring him the message at midnight. Lady Morgana Thornwick is at the gates. She wants to speak to him. Alone.
Lucien's first instinct is to kill her.
His second is to ignore her.
But Seraphina is asleep in their chambers, and Morgana wouldn't risk coming here unless it mattered. She'd face certain death.
He meets her in the courtyard. She's alone, unarmed, dressed in dark traveling clothes like she's been riding hard for days. Her face is pale, her eyes desperate.
"If you're here for Viktor—" Lucien starts.
"I'm not." Morgana's voice shakes. "I came to warn you. And to help."
"Why would you help us? You wanted me dead weeks ago."
"No. I wanted her gone." Morgana looks toward the castle where Seraphina sleeps. "I thought removing her would save you from yourself. But I was wrong about everything."
Lucien waits. He's lived five hundred years. He knows how to recognize a truth beneath lies.
